Archaeologists Baffled by Tombs Found in Peru / Giants were buried, along with miniatures of themselves

Thomas H. Maugh II, Los Angeles Times

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, February 15, 2001

2001-02-15 04:00:00 PDT Los Angeles -- Archaeologists have found three unlooted tombs in a 1,500-year-old Moche pyramid in Peru, a finding that has left them scratching their heads over the burial chambers' unusual contents.

Each of the three treasure-filled tombs was accompanied by a miniature tomb containing a copper figurine of the deceased and miniature versions of the tomb's artifacts -- something never seen in any culture before, even in the most elaborate Egyptian chambers.

Perhaps even more puzzling, all three of the deceased, and a young female apparently included as a sacrifice, were giants among the short-statured Moche people, whose empire flourished in the desert plain between the Andes and the Pacific from about A.D. 100 to 800.

"More than 350 Moche burials have been excavated (by archaeologists)," said Christopher Donnan, lead archaeologist from the University of California, Los Angeles, "but neither I nor my colleagues have seen anything elsewhere remotely like the ones at this site."

Fewer than 15 of those previously discovered tombs contained silver and gold, but all three of the new ones do, and one contains unusual amounts, suggesting that its occupant was very powerful. The tombs and artifacts are expected to give archaeologists new insights into the religious beliefs of the Moche, said archaeologist Steve Bourget of the University of Texas at Austin.

The discovery, announced yesterday by the National Geographic Society, which sponsored the excavation, is also important because the tombs are from the early stages of the Moche empire. Most previous discoveries have dated from the end of the Moche empire.

A sophisticated culture, the Moche raised huge pyramids of sun-dried mud bricks, laying their noblest dead inside. They also created splendid objects of gold, silver and copper.

The new tombs were discovered at Dos Cabezas, the first big settlement identified from the early Moche culture. Dos Cabezas is at the mouth of the Jaquetepequa River, about 40 miles south of Sipan, where even more elaborate tombs were found in the 1980s.

Donnan found the first tomb in the summer of 1997. It contained an adult male with a 15-year-old female lying crosswise at his feet -- most likely a sacrifice. The man had been buried wearing a cylindrical metal headdress and a gold nose ornament.

Four "absolutely awesome" ceramics were arrayed in the corners of the tomb, Bourget said.

At one end of the tomb, Donnan said, was a little compartment containing a copper figurine wrapped in textiles and accompanied by miniature artifacts.

The following summer, the team opened a second tomb that contained 10 to 15 times as many riches as the first, Donnan said.

The individual was buried in multiple layers of textiles, with 14 headdresses, clubs, spears, spear throwers, three gold-plated shields, a burial mask and five gold objects in his mouth. "Around the corners were the most spectacular set of ceramic vessels ever found in a Moche tomb, even better than those at Sipan," he said.

And at the end of the tomb was a small compartment, about 14 inches square, containing another copper figurine wrapped in textiles. With it were a miniature burial mask, a miniature circular shield, two war clubs, spears and other small artifacts.

"It was now clear that the figurine was meant to be a miniaturization of the figure in the tomb," Donnan said.

A third tomb, opened in the summer of 1999, was very similar to the first.

The final surprise was the size of the deceased. Moche ranged in height from 4-foot-10 to 5-foot-6. All the deceased were between 5-foot-9 and 6 feet - - the equivalent of 7-footers in today's society.